Hi all,
I am an Indiana boy living in Tokyo. I bought a C700 several months ago and it was my favorite pastime to load and unload it with new software.

Last week I finally got my hands on a C860. I am trying to set up the perfect system for myself. I have tried all of the ROMs at one time or another, but I haven't found the perfect setup yet for me. Here is my dream ROM:

English menus with Japanese input and font support
Support for Portabase (the best app on the Zaurus)
The 860 E/J Dictionary with data on the CF Card
Applications running at 3ghz with unlimited memory (ok that's pushing it)

So my questions are:
Is it possible to use Japanese and Portabase with X11, OZ, etc.?
Is it possible to load the 860 E/J dictionary on the CF Card?
Which folder are the E/J dictionary files stored on the 860?

Also, if anyone is interested in a C700 treated with TLC and is patient enough for shipping from Japan, I am ready to part with her.

Hi davidsan,
The big advantage of the 860(760) over the 700 is simply the memory capacity. The 700 also uses a slightly different processor (starting with the 750, a patch was made for a processor glitch), but the latest rom updates for the 700 are supposed to fix the processor problems. Using a swap file on a CF card or SD can help, but the newer machines are going to be faster. The real question to me is how many apps do you want to run fast and how much do you want to spend. In Japan, the 700 can be found for around $350 if you look hard enough. The 860 is running around $700. I love my zaurai, but the calendar and contacts are still not as good as the palm even on the 860, but with all the other possibilities you can use the Z for, I have put my palm in indefinite storage.

That post also has links to ipks containing the necessary files to add Japanese support/dictionary to roms that have removed Japanese support. It includes the c760/c860 dictionary (same on both models); it does not include the c860 translator (not hard to extract from the c860 filesystem, though).

I currently use tkcrom on my c760, with the above Japanese ipks installed and the locale set back to Japanese. I only tried the X11
and OZ roms briefly, so I can't help you there.

ashikase,
I could be wrong, but I think this article is talking about a different E/J dictionary than what somes with the 860. I want to extract the 860 translator (maybe that is the "dictionary" I am looking for", but I can't figure out what files I need to copy to restore the E/J. I backed up and then tried to format the user space. After doing so, the dictionary did not work. I assume because the dictionary files are stored in user space and deleted when the 860 is formatted.

I am interested in the tkcrom, but I wonder if the addition of european language sets (more use of ram), etc is worth it over the standard 860 ROM in addition to the loss (until I figure out a solution) of the 860 E/J dictionary.

My C700 was purchased at Sofmap in the used (refurbished, etc.) section. I don't know much about Nagoya, but in Tokyo I prefer Yurakucho for gadget shopping (Bic camera and Sofmap).

Also,
The cacko rom offers Japanese or English, but not both as far as I can tell. This doesn't help poor Americans like me who struggle with the joys of Japanese learning. I want to be able to ready Japanese while enjoying English menus at the same time.

The dictionaries etc for the translator (2 large text areas - enter E in top, hit button and get J on bottom - or vice-versa) are located in /home/QtPalmtop/tranlator, there are 3 directories there ejjisho, ejtable and je. The files for the translator are available as ipks, you will find them on the CD that came with the C860. (I'm only assuming this as I have a C760 running with the C860 NAND)

The dictionaries for sljisho (very small text entry area, 2 larger dispaly areas below) are located in /usr/QtPalmtop.rom/dic and symlinked to /home/QtPalmtop/dic.

I'm running the standard sharp rom with my own conversion to give almost all English, but allowing Jaapnese input etc. I've also added a bunch of fixes from the tkcRom and Cacko rom that I liked/wanted.

Portabase worls fine for me, although I've been using sqlite more recently.

Other apps you may like - zten - along with Jim Breen's Edict dictionary, Opie Reader for ebooks, KanjiNirvana for those times you can't remember those kanji, Tree!Explorer - the best file manager i've used on the Z, Kino2 for watching divx movies, KeyHelper for getting the keys to do what you want, Korganizer for a rapidly developing calendar and todo, iqnotes (I prefer version 1.0ja4 over the new 2.01 as it supports Japanese entry although 2.01 has a bunch of other nifty features) for notes etc.

Stu,
I would like to see your script.
Thanks for the advice. I have played with some of those apps before, but some are new to me.
I still prefer Portabase. I use it as my own E/J dictionary as well as information storage using the password protected tables.
I will check out some of the new apps now.
Thanks again,
Burao

Is there GPS software specific for the Japanese market. Other linux / zaurus GPS software works for telling you where you are on a map but not computing directions. I heard Sharp was coming out with a GPS service with directions specifically for the Japanese zaurus market.

Here is my conversion script, it was designed originally for C760, but has been tested on C750 and C860 also.

Basically it converst a stock Japanese rom to use English menus by removing the qtopia translation files in /home/QtPalmtop/i18n/ja/

Note if you install a program after runnig this script that comes up with Japanese menus - for example Zten and portabase - then just remove the <package>.qm files from this directory and the package will change to English menus

There are still a few places that have Japanese left, I'm still working on getting rid of these.

Stubear basically covered everything for converting a stock Japanese rom (nice script, btw). If you decide to install an English ROM (tkc, etc.), you can use the ipks from my previous link to restore Japanese functionality (while still maintaining English menus and such).

I personally prefer the C760/C860's builtin dictionary (sljisho) over zten+edict... edict is nice, but I find the built-in dictionary to be more useful (for example, many entries include example sentences). I still use zten with edict, though, as well as with other dictionaries, such as wordnet (english-english dictionary). Information on setting up zten, along with links to dictionary files, can be found at:

(be sure to check the German version of that page, as it includes more English dictionaries than the English page).

I wasn't too impressed by the C860's translator program... the results reminded me of Babelfish (useful, perhaps, but not altogether accurate or natural).

As for shopping... we recently got a Bic Camera in Nagoya. Nice store, but the few times that I went there I saw that some of their items were extremely overpriced (1GB microdrive: Bic Camera, 3man; Compmart, 2man).

And finally, since KanjiNirvana was mentioned, a plug: a couple of us, with the permission of the original author, are rewriting/improving KanjiNirvana. More information is available at:

Ashikase,
I like the E/J translator for doing full sentences. I agree that the results are much less than perfect, but it allows me to communicate with a Japanese person at least at a basic level.

I like Bic Camera because of the Bic card program. You get points back on every purchase (sometimes around 15%) for future purchases.
This is the reason they jack up the price a bit. So if you buy alot of gadgets in Japan (like me) it is the best. If you don't, other stores have better prices.

I will check out your nihongonirvana. Sounds good to me.

By the way, anyone know of a good way to get the Apache/PHP and MYSQL ipk files to work on the 860?
I had it all working on my 700 a while back, but I have been having trouble getting it on my 860.
I think it is mostly file permission problems, but I'm not sure.